Big Bodied Deer

The buck above was a " Big Bodied Deer" with such a small odd rack. Most likely poor genetics.
This is the largest deer I have seen in the boundaries of the Quabbin Watershed.

No shortage of loons this morning , seeing five on my shoreline hike.

Trail camera had the same raccoon and porcupine as last week. I may need to move them,,,,,,

Jim

Presentation This Week @ Rutland , MA Library

Should be an entertaining evening !

I will share a five week experience  hoping for a unique photo opportunity. Two opportunities presented themselves.
I will also share the most exciting bird encounter to date . Everyone should be given an opportunity like this.

Also look forward to meeting some of my Blog followers.

 Hope to See You Wednesday November 16th 7:00 PM Rutland ,Ma Library

Not much going on with my Quabbin hike this morning. The Red-tail Hawk in the tile picture flew over me  this morning in the first sun rays.

I checked two of my trail cameras this morning Only a fat raccoon and a curious porcupine. Tomorrow my hike will be to pickup my other two cameras. After the Quabbin hunt I will put them back out.

Jim









































































































































































































































where I was hoping for a unique photo . Patience prevailed. 

Right Place Wrong Shoreline

I enjoy hiking the shoreline. The anticipation of what's around the next cove , maybe a soaring eagle and usually hearing the call of a loon. The buck above was walking a distant shoreline and didn't provide much more than an evidence pic.

 The call of a distant loon broke the silence of a very quiet morning. Won't be long before the reservoir becomes very quiet with the last of it's seasonal visitors heading to wintering grounds.

 The peak in the distance ( right side) is Soapstone Hill. I didn't find any treasures hiking the shoreline this day.

 While scouting out a new area to put my trail cameras I found this rock with two skeletons laying on it. The skeletons are small in size. The skull on the right side appears to be a small porcupine. I made this assumption from the front teeth.

Jim

Got To Work For The Few Photo Opportunities

The title picture is an older doe who gave me about a 3 second window at first light before slipping away.

Trail cameras are still active. I was hoping to get a day time bobcat video...........

Quabbin Trail Cameras

Jim

Been Lucky With Trail Cameras

The title page picture  of the bear was on this blog a few months back, I  thought it was a good catch on my trail camera. At least I thought so until the I retrieved my SD cards from my trial cameras this morning. Two of the cameras were slightly moved on the tree, The video below shows why......

Jim

Any Idea Who This Stand Belongs To ?

While hiking , I randomly wander and bushwhack . I came across this ladder  deep within the watershed boundaries hanging in a tree. What an interesting find ! Taking a number of pictures and enlarging you can see evidence of where a platform once was affixed to the branches. The wood looks to be old and aged. My guess  this belonged to MassWildlife and a 16MM camera might of been used on this platform with Jack Swedburg filming Quabbin wildlife???

My trail camera activity slowed down considerably. This mornings check had a glimpse of a coyote a doe feeding and what appears to be a senior cow moose. In the next few weeks I will move the cameras to a different habitat.

Jim

Keep On Hiking !


  Recently I reached  2,100 miles on my ole' hiking boots in the boundaries of
The Quabbin Watershed. The equivalent of hiking from Fort Kent , Me. to Key West , Fl.

In addition to hiking " The Quabbin" with a camera I have set out a few trail cameras in my travels.

Enjoy !

https://youtu.be/x94Cl5mGHWo

Jim